A burst pipe in a radiator led to water damage Wednesday at the Croswell Opera House.

The radiator is in the projection booth on the third floor of the building, Croswell artistic director Jere Righter said.

The opera house had been having problems with its boiler, Righter said. Apparently the boiler stopped working sometime Wednesday afternoon, causing the water in the radiator pipe to freeze and burst the pipe, she said. The boiler then started working again, pouring water into the building, she said.

Righter said she left the building at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. When she returned at about 8:30 p.m., she discovered water falling from the ceiling above the main lobby just in front of the auditorium doors.

“It was just raining,” Righter said. “I can’t describe it any other way.”

She had to search for the source of the water, and the projection booth was the last place she looked, Righter said. She called other staff members, who were able to turn off some of the water, she said. Employees from Adrian Mechanical Services arrived about 25 minutes later and turned off the water completely, she said.

Besides soaking the floor and a rug in the projection booth, the water damaged the ceiling of a storage room directly beneath and soaked props and furniture in that room, Righter said.

“It was all just wringing wet,” she said.

The water continued to the main lobby where, besides soaking the carpet, it damaged some 1920s plaster trim.

The water continued to the basement, where it damaged costumes, Righter said.

She did not have any estimate of the damage Thursday afternoon, Righter said. The opera house’s insurance company had been called, but agents had not yet arrived to assess the damage, she said.

Staff members used buckets to remove some of the water Wednesday night, Righter said. Workers from Top 2 Bottom Cleaning were in the building Thursday morning using a large machine to extract more water from the carpet, Righter said.

High school cast members from an upcoming production of “The Little Mermaid” volunteered to come in Thursday and help move soaked costumes and props to places where they could dry, Righter said.

Wet costumes hung drying in the lobby of the building Thursday afternoon.

The mishap was the third issue the opera house has had with the boiler in a week, Righter said. The boiler has been restored to service, but the opera house needs to address its infrastructure problems long-term, she said.

Croswell board president Emory Schmidt said the Croswell has an engineer and an architect studying the building, and the organization is looking at developing a capital fund.

Page 2 of 2 - “The Croswell is a very, very old building,” Schmidt said. “The infrastructure needs to be really, really worked on.”

Despite the problems, a Bon Jovi tribute on Jan. 18 and the opening of “The Little Mermaid” Jan. 31 will go on as scheduled, provided the boiler keeps working, Righter said.